sodium hydroxide

can anyone give me advice on buying, in power form, sodium hydroxide, oxalic acid, citric acid and disodium peroxydicarbonate from local chemical companies? will these products mix the same from different suppliers, in other words, do they come in different ranges of potency. also, sodium hydroxide in liquid, flake and bead form... will bead form work ok? no luck on finding disodium percarb.

The first question any company who sells these items would ask is -"how much do you want to buy". Anything less than a pallet, you should select any one of many companies that sell to our trade. If your selection is pallet amounts, send me a Emails and I could recommend a company.

Roy,
Price sounds right for small quantities, bag or 2. I prefer the Sodium Hydroxide beads over flakes, just my personal preference. Basically I think they are uniform in strength. I would buy from your nearest supplier to save on freight. Look around your area and you might find someone local. If you are going to make your own chemicals, order some surfactant (gelling agent) too. That will help the chemical cling to the surface you are cleaning. Oxalic acid, I believe comes in a crystal form sort of like sugar, at least what I have did. Don't mix it untill you are ready to use. I haven't used any citric acid before. David probably has bought and used more sodium hydroxide than you and I ever will. He would be the one to seek advice from about that. I think in larger quantities you can get it for less than 50 cents per pound.
Glenn

I'm a little curious about the grade of oxalic acid your using. Is it a crystal white powder or does it have a brownish color to it?

We did a job back east a few years back and we got some of the industrial grade oxalic ( brownish in color ) from a local supplier. I was unaware of it at the time but soon learned that the brownish color is because there is iron in the product. As some of you may know, iron, water and wood do not go together, you wind up with iron contamination. This can really screw up your finish.

If your oxalic acid isn't a pure white powder, please let me know, It could help me in answering a lot of questions.

David, I get only small quanities, pallets never have nor probably never will for a while. The prices that I've been given are per 50lbs . Thats much better than the mail order prices I have gotten already, plus they are local for me. If you can suggest someone with lower price, please let me know.

Glen, thanks the the bead advice. The person I spoke to implied that I may not be happy with the beads so your advice is good for me. Whats your mix with this stuff??

Roy,
I would rather not post the mixing info here. Not because I don't want to help anybody, but because it is very dangerous and extreme caution should be taken whenever mixing any chemicals. If you email me I will be glad to help you individually. This is how the info was shared with me and I repect those people for it.
Glenn